Not far from the Chiang Rai town hall is Wat Phra Sing, a historic temple once home to the sacred Lanna-style Buddhist statue Phra Buddha Sihing, which is now in Chiang Mai.
Nevertheless, Wat Phra Sing remains a temple worth visiting for its Lanna-style ordination hall featuring finest creations of lanna craftmen.
One of Chiang Rai’s oldest temples, the Wat Phra Singh was built in 1385, a little over a century after the city of Chiang Rai was founded by King Mengrai in 1262. The main structures of the Lanna style temple are the ubosot, the viharn, a chapel containing a footprint of the Buddha and the Kuti or monks living quarters.
The oldest original structure still standing today in Buddhist temples of Northern Thailand is usually the chedi or pagoda. The gold plated Sinhalese style chedi of the Wat Phra Singh stands behind the viharn. It consists of a square base with small shrines on its sides that contain Buddha images and a spiral shaped top.
Wat Phra Sing
Address: 2 Samlarn Rd, Phra Sing, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50280 Thailand
